Although 2017 saw an amazing year for bitcoin where the price grew from less than $1000 at the end of December 2016 to more than $13,800 per bitcoin at the end of the year, 2018 has, so far, been a tough year for the cryptocurrency. The current price at the time of writing for a single bitcoin is just over $8,250 and despite this being a reduction of more than $5,500 in five months things are looking a lot brighter than a month ago when prices were around 50% lower than when the New Year’s Eve countdown concluded on January 1st.

Even though a lot of people made a lot of money with Bitcoin in 2017 with its enormous growth – including the Winklevoss twins whose portfolio exceeded $1 billion last year – the volatility of the decentralised currency is scaring many risk averse people away from investing. This leaves the majority of the people attracted being those with larger bankrolls and those more open to risk. The way that this writer conducts his bitcoin business is the more cautious of the two options and here are some of the best hybrid approach options for getting involved in bitcoin that I have used in my time with bitcoin.

Coinbase

The biggest and most well-known crypto/fiat bitcoin exchange on the market, Coinbase is the first place that many think of when looking to split their assets into cryptocurrency and fiat holdings. The exchange has been active since 2012 and currently has more than 20 million users who have traded in excess of $150 billion making it the most trusted as well as largest cryptocurrency exchange around.

The site operates in 32 countries and as well as offering bitcoin and more than 55 different currencies, users are able to purchase the cryptocurrencies Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash as well. This offering makes it possible for users to not only separate their assets but to diversify their holdings too with the range of fiat and cryptos available. Couple this with their good name within the industry, Coinbase is certainly one of the stand out performers within the field.

Gambling

Gambling is one of the biggest industries in the world and a UK Gambling Commission report from late in 2017 shows that more than 45% of people aged 16 or older in the UK had gambled at least once in the four weeks prior to responding to the survey. There are two ways of funding your gambling accounts; fiat currency and bitcoin the favoured options. While credit/debit cards and cash – through such methods as PaySafeCard – being the historically favoured methods, hybrid casinos are also a popular way to introduce bitcoin to mainstream use.

History has shown that gambling and bitcoin have gone hand-in-hand together as 50% of all bitcoin transactions in 2013 were related to gambling. Since 2014, about 3.7 million BTC, or roughly $37 billion USD, has been used in the gambling industry. The most predominantly used method of bitcoin gambling is depositing, playing and withdrawing in cryptocurrency and the world’s biggest bitcoin casino BitStarz is a proponent of this method. However, the hybrid method is becoming more and more popular with casinos, such as the Vera & John casino, America’s Cardroom and Uptown Aces, that convert your cryptocurrency to the offered fiat currencies for gameplay and these casinos are making it easier and easier for gamblers to get involved with bitcoin through the usage of fiat currencies in their gambling accounts, and we expect to see these types of casino grow exponentially throughout this year and the future too.

Revolut

The Revolut mobile app was created in 2015 and has since gone from strength to strength with more than one and a half million users making more than 70 million transactions over the past three years. They offer 25 different fiat currencies for which users can use to deposit into their Revolut accounts – and spend on their debit card they are provided with, if they should so wish – and with these funds they can use to purchase bitcoin, as well as Ether and Litecoin.

Revolut accounts keep all fiat and crypto currencies separate so this is another fantastic solution for investing in bitcoin, but allowing yourself to be involved in a way that helps prove the theory that the hybrid approach to bitcoin business safer than being ‘all-in’ on bitcoin and leaving yourself subject to the volatility of the market. In addition to this, a recent release from the financial services provider has seen it possible for users to round up the amount spent in fiat currencies to the next whole dollar/pound/euro/etc when using a Revolut account, purchase bitcoin with the change and save the cryptocurrency amounts in their Vault area. This makes it easier than ever and providing a completely action free method of getting involved with bitcoin and when this feature is soon released to all Revolut account holders, rather than just the Premium members right now, everyone will be able to partake in automatically in spending cash and saving bitcoin.

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